CHAPTER SIX A GOOD NIGHT’S WORK（第2/3页）

They got up and Tirian now took the lead. Very slowly，hardly daring to breathe，they made their way up to a little clump of trees which was not more than forty feet away from the sentinel．

“Wait here till I come again，”he whispered to the other two.“If I miscarry，fly.”Then he sauntered out boldly in full view of the enemy. The man started when he saw him and was just going to jump to his feet：he was afraid Tirian might be one of his own officers and that he would get into trouble for sitting down. But before he could get up Tirian had dropped on one knee beside him，saying：

“Art thou a warrior of the Tisroc’s，may he live for ever ？ It cheers my heart to meet thee among all these beasts and devils of Narnians. Give me thy hand，friend.”

Before he well knew what was happening the Calormene sentry found his right hand seized in a mighty grip. Next instant someone was kneeling on his legs and a dagger was pressed against his neck．

“One noise and thou art dead，”said Tirian in his ear.“Tell me where the Unicorn is and thou shalt live.”

“B-behind the stable，O My Master，”stammered the unfortunate man．

“Good. Rise up and lead me to him.”

As the man got up the point of the dagger never left his neck. It only travelled round (cold and rather ticklish) as Tirian got behind him and settled it at a convenient place under his ear. Trembling he went round to the back of the stable．

Though it was dark Tirian could see the white shape of Jewel at once．

“Hush!”he said.“No，do not neigh. Yes，Jewel，it is I. How have they tied thee ？”

“Hobbled by all four legs and tied with a bridle to a ring in the stable wall，”came Jewel’s voice．

“Stand here，sentry，with your back to the wall. So. Now， Jewel：set the point of your horn against this Calormene’s breast.”

“With a good will，Sire，”said Jewel．

“If he moves，rive him to the heart.”Then in a few seconds Tirian cut the ropes. With the remains of them he bound the sentry hand and foot. Finally he made him open his mouth，stuffed it full of grass and tied him up from scalp to chin so that he could make no noise，lowered the man into a sitting position and set him against the wall．

“I have done thee some discourtesy，soldier，”said Tirian.“But such was my need. If we meet again I may happen to do thee a better turn. Now，Jewel，let us go softly.”

He put his left arm round the beast’s neck and bent and kissed its nose and both had great joy. They went back as quietly as possible to the place where he had left the children. It was darker in there under the trees and he nearly ran into Eustace before he saw him．

“All’s well，”whispered Tirian.“A good night’s work. Now for home.”

They turned and had gone a few paces when Eustace said， “Where are you，Pole ？ ”There was no answer.“Is Jill on the other side of you，Sire ？ ”he asked．

“What ？”said Tirian.“Is she not on the other side of your”

It was a terrible moment. They dared not shout but they whispered her name in the loudest whisper they could manage. There was no reply．

“Did she go from you while I was away ？”asked Tirian．

“I didn’t see or hear her go，”said Eustace.“But she could have gone without my knowing. She can be as quiet as a cat; you’ve seen for yourself.”

At that moment a far off drum beat was heard. Jewel moved his ears forward.“Dwarfs，”he said．

“And treacherous Dwarfs，enemies，as likely as not，”muttered Tirian．

“And here comes something on hoofs，much nearer，”said Jewel．

The two humans and the Unicorn stood dead still. There were now so many different things to worry about that they didn’t know what to do. The noise of hoofs came steadily nearer. And then， quite close to them，a voice whispered：

“Hallo! Are you all there ？”

Thank heaven，it was Jill’s．

“Where the devil have you been to ？”said Eustace in a furious whisper，for he had been very frightened．

“In the stable，”gasped Jill，but it was the sort of gasp you give when you’re struggling with suppressed laughter．

“Oh，”growled Eustace，“you think it funny，do you ？ Well all I can say is-”

“Have you got Jewel，Sire ？”asked Jill．

“Yes. Here he is. What is that beast with you ？”

“That’s him，”said Jill.“But let’s be off home before anyone wakes up.”And again there came little explosions of laughter．

The others obeyed at once for they had already lingered long enough in that dangerous place and the Dwarf drums seemed to have come a little nearer. It was only after they had been walking Southward for several minutes that Eustace said：

“Got him ？ What do you mean ？”

“The false Aslan，”said Jill．

“What ？”said Tirian.“Where have you been ？ What have you done ？”